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'Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show' more documentary than movie

aughn led a group of comics who performed on a 30-day, 30-show tour throughout America. The performances, travel and other aspects became the basis for the movie “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days and 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland.”

Since it was released as a movie in theaters, it became subject to the recommendations of movie reviewers. One of the factors the movie reviewer must consider is whether audiences who don’t get invitations to free previews should pay to watch the movie in a theater.

This reviewer’s personal opinion is that while the 100-minute screen show was enjoyable, it’s more of a documentary than a movie. It would be perfect for a documentary on the Comedy Channel, and people who like the type of humor offered by the featured stand-up comics would likely get their money’s worth if they saw the participants in a live comedy venue.

Since there are museums which show scientific documentaries in their theaters, the film would also be an appropriate documentary in a comedy-oriented or entertainment-oriented facility.

However, there is little if any material which would warrant the film’s elevation from something suitable for cable television to something worth paying full price at a movie theater.

Vaughn emulated the spirit of the old Wild West shows by taking four other comedians on the road. Ahmed Ahmed not only faces the burden of being an Arab after the September 2001 terrorist attacks but also had to stand up to his Egyptian parents to go into comedy in the first place. John Caparulo’s parents didn’t mind their son going into entertainment, since it was the path likely to keep him out of trouble. Brent Ernst was raised by a single mother and an older brother who has since died of AIDS, and Sebastian Maniscalo prefers to use his Italian heritage for thug jokes rather than waiting tables.

The five travel more than 6,000 miles by motorhome and are joined from time to time by Jon Favreau, Justin Long, Keir O’Donnell and Peter Billingsley.

The tour took place shortly before the death of country music legend Buck Owens, and the stop in Bakersfield includes Dwight Yoakum joining the group at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace and Vaughn joining Yoakum in singing “Streets of Bakersfield” (the actual comedy performance that night was at Bakersfield’s Fox Theater). Appearances by the families of the four other comedians are also included.

The 2005 tour didn’t necessarily go as planned, especially since it coincided with Hurricane Katrina. Several planned stops were scuttled in favor of safer cities, proceeds from some concerts were earmarked for the benefit of hurricane victims and the hours before their Birmingham, AL, concert were spent handing out tickets to hurricane victims.

The Birmingham concert was designated as a “clean” concert, forcing most notably Caparulo to clean up his language.

The film included scenes from the performances and the travel, and it also included various coaching tips. Those coaching tips elevate the film from a rehash of the tour to a true documentary.

But it’s not a movie. There’s no plot. It’s funny because of the comedy acts and it’s informative, but it’s not truly a feature film.

The advice not to pay money in the theaters but to wait until it comes out on cable television must be applied here. It’s great for a cable television special. It’s misplaced as a movie.

 

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